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Death Proof
Death Proof is a 2007 exploitation horror film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino released theatrically in the United States as part of a double feature with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror under the collective title Grindhouse, to recreate the experience of viewing exploitation film double features in a "grindhouse" theater. Summary Three friends, Arlene, Shanna and radio DJ "Jungle" Julia Lucai, drive down Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas on their way to celebrate Julia's birthday. In a bar, Julia reveals that she made a radio announcement offering a free lap dance from Arlene in return for addressing her as "Butterfly", buying her a drink, and reciting a segment of the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". Aging Hollywood stunt double "Stuntman" Mike trails the women to a bar and claims the lap dance. Arlene is suspicious, having seen Mike's car earlier that day, but he convinces her to give him the lap dance. The women prepare to depart with Lanna, another friend. Pam, Julia's old classmate, accepts Mike's offer of a ride home. Mike takes Pam to his Hollywood stunt car rigged with a roll cage and tells her the car is "death proof", but only for the driver. He speeds and slams on the brakes, smashing Pam's skull on the dashboard, killing her. He catches up with the women's car and drives into it at high speed, killing them. Mike survives with no serious injury. Fourteen months later, three young women, Abernathy Ross, Kim Mathis and Lee Montgomery, are driving through Lebanon, Tennessee. They stop at a convenience store, where Mike watches them from his car. The women pick up their friend, stuntwoman Zoë Bell, from the airport while Mike photographs them unawares. Zoë tells them she wants to test-drive a 1970 Dodge Challenger, the same type of car from the 1971 film Vanishing Point, for sale nearby. The owner lets them test-drive it unsupervised after Abernathy tells him Lee is a porn star and will stay behind. Zoë tells Abernathy and Kim that she wants to play a game they call "Ship's Mast", whereby she rides the hood holding belts fastened to the car while Kim drives at speed. Kim is hesitant, but agrees. The three enjoy the stunt, unaware that Mike is watching them. He rear-ends them in his car, causing Zoë to accidentally drop one of her and Abernathy's belts. After several more collisions, he T-bones them, throwing Zoë from the hood. Kim shoots Mike's left shoulder and he flees in his car. Abernathy and Kim cry over the loss of their friend, until Zoë emerges uninjured. The three agree to catch up to Mike and kill him. Mike has stopped in a narrow road to treat his wound with whiskey. The women rear-end him at speed. Zoë gets out and beats him with a pipe, but he resists and drives off again. After a long chase, the women push Mike's car off the road. They drag him from the wreckage and beat him to death. Cast * Kurt Russell as Mike McKay * Zoë Bell as Herself * Rosario Dawson as Abernathy Ross * Vanessa Ferlito as Arlene * Sydney Tamiia Poitier as Julia Lucai * Tracie Thoms as Kim Mathis * Jordan Ladd as Shanna * Rose McGowan as Pam * Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Lee Montgomery * Quentin Tarantino as Warren * Marcy Harriell as Marcy Harriell Trivia * The film was physically scratched to achieve its dirty look, rather than digitally scratched. * The only Quentin Tarantino movie that's completely in chronological order and without flash-backs. * In the extended cut of the film, the word 'fuck' is used 148 times. * The posters and DVD cover feature a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, though this car never appears in the movie. * The first Quentin Tarantino-directed film not to be produced by Lawrence Bender. * The cops, Earl and Edgar, in the hospital after Mike crashes his car for the first time are the cops in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), who report to the scene of the wedding chapel massacre.